Bay Bridge welding woes lead to China trip

Officials overseeing construction of the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge jetted off to China this week for some in-your-face meetings over defective welds that have stalled work on the $6.3 billion project for months.

Inspectors hired by Caltrans reported finding a number of cracked welds in the girders that will support the roadway, which we reported in January. Officials say those problems were fixed, but then more cracks were found in welds linking the deck plates to the girders.

Metropolitan Transportation Commission manager Steve Heminger, new Caltrans Director Randy Iwasaki and Bimla Rhinehart, executive director of the state Transportation Commission, plan to meet in Shanghai with executives of ZPMC, the fabricator that lead bridge contractor American Bridge-Fluor hired to produce 900 panels for the span.

The panels are being assembled into football field-size deck sections that will stretch across the 1,800-foot-long tower portion of the bridge.

"The simple message is, quality needs to improve," Heminger said.

The bridge sections originally had been expected to start arriving here by no later than March, but now the earliest shipments aren't expected until October.

Lost time means lost money, especially with 80 inspectors with Caltrans and the contractors living in China during the fabricating process, which now will continue well into next year.

Heads up: State Sen. Leland Yee was at the New Asia Restaurant in Chinatown on Friday night for what many called his unofficial kickoff for San Francisco mayor in 2011.

Officially, the packed event was billed as a "thank you" by the Chinese Six Companies, one of the city's oldest benevolent associations.

Unofficially, those who were there characterized the event as the, "Hey, I'm here and running for mayor" party.

First things first: BART officials who trundled up to Sacramento on Tuesday to meet with state Assemblyman Tom Ammianoabout their stalled attempt to set up civilian oversight of the transit system's troubled police force got a quick lesson in political manners.

"Stop trashing me," Ammiano bluntly told the group.

Ammiano, D-San Francisco, was miffed about comments that some BART directors made recently about his unwillingness to back their police plan. Ammiano thinks BART's scheme is too weak.

The drive for civilian review began after then-BART Officer Johannes Mehserleshot an unarmed patron to death early New Year's Day while investigating a fight on a train.

Outside investigators hired by BART sharply criticized both the department's handling of the incident and its larger practices and training regimens, so BART really wants to get some "reforms" up and running fast.

By the way, sources tell us that an unreleased report by those same outside investigators recommended that two officers who were at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland along with Mehserle be fired for their conduct that night.

So far, all the officers with Mehserle are still on the force, but also still on paid leave.

Sheehan's return: Just when it looked like anti-war media icon Cindy Sheehan might fade away, word comes that she's headed to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts- where President Obama's family is vacationing.

Sheehan tells us she's not demanding a meeting with the president, as she did in 2005 when she held a widely covered vigil outside then-President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

But Sheehan and her anti-war cohorts will be staying just around the corner from Obama.

"He will know we are there," Sheehan said.

Bay watch: Swimmers in the bay are being terrorized by an 80-pound harbor seal.

San Francisco police Officer Pete McLaughlinsays he was swimming near Aquatic Park the other morning when he felt something brush his foot.

"Then I was face to face with this thing," he says - the "thing" being a small harbor seal.

Normally, the mammals are shy. Not this one.

"I felt him nipping at my left knee and harassing me," said McLaughlin, who still has the teeth marks and bruises to prove it.